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. 2020 Nov 10:2020:9810709.
doi: 10.1155/2020/9810709. eCollection 2020.

Analysis of the Molecular Mechanisms of the Effects of Prunella vulgaris against Subacute Thyroiditis Based on Network Pharmacology

Xin Shen  1 , Rui Yang  2 , Jianpeng An  3 , Xia Zhong  4
Affiliations

Analysis of the Molecular Mechanisms of the Effects of Prunella vulgaris against Subacute Thyroiditis Based on Network Pharmacology

Xin Shen et al. Evid Based Complement Alternat Med. .

Abstract

Prunella vulgaris (PV) has a long history of application in traditional Chinese and Western medicine as a remedy for the treatment of subacute thyroiditis (SAT). This study applied network pharmacology to elucidate the mechanism of the effects of PV against SAT. Components of the potential therapeutic targets of PV and SAT-related targets were retrieved from databases. To construct a protein-protein interaction (PPI) network, the intersection of SAT-related targets and PV-related targets was input into the STRING platform. Gene ontology (GO) analysis and KEGG pathway enrichment analysis were carried out using the DAVID database. Networks were constructed by Cytoscape for visualization. The results showed that a total of 11 compounds were identified according to the pharmacokinetic parameters of ADME. A total of 126 PV-related targets and 2207 SAT-related targets were collected, and 83 overlapping targets were subsequently obtained. The results of the KEGG pathway and compound-target-pathway (C-T-P) network analysis suggested that the anti-SAT effect of PV mainly occurs through quercetin, luteolin, kaempferol, and beta-sitosterol and is most closely associated with their regulation of inflammation and apoptosis by targeting the PIK3CG, MAPK1, MAPK14, TNF, and PTGS2 proteins and the PI3K-Akt and TNF signaling pathways. The study demonstrated that quercetin, luteolin, kaempferol, and beta-sitosterol in PV may play a major role in the treatment of SAT, which was associated with the regulation of inflammation and apoptosis, by targeting the PI3K-Akt and TNF signaling pathways.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
The graphical abstract of this study. PV, Prunella vulgaris; SAT, subacute thyroiditis.
Figure 2
Figure 2
The C-T network of PV. The yellow nodes represent active compounds, and the blue nodes represent compounds targets of each compound. C-T network: compound-target network; PV, Prunella vulgaris.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Overlapping targets between 126 PV-related targets (A) and 2207 SAT-related targets (B). PV, Prunella vulgaris; SAT, subacute thyroiditis.
Figure 4
Figure 4
The C-OT network of PV in treating SAT. The yellow nodes represent active compounds, and the blue nodes represent therapeutic targets. Nodes size and color depth are proportional to their degree. C-OT network: compound-overlapping target network. PV, Prunella vulgaris; SAT, subacute thyroiditis.
Figure 5
Figure 5
The PPI network of overlapping targets. The colors of the nodes are illustrated from orange to yellow in descending order of degree values. Nodes size is proportional to their degree. PPI network: protein-protein interaction network.
Figure 6
Figure 6
GO enrichment analysis of 83 therapeutic targets. GO, gene ontology.
Figure 7
Figure 7
KEGG analysis of 83 therapeutic targets.
Figure 8
Figure 8
The C-T-P network constructed by Cytoscape. The yellow nodes represent active compounds, the blue nodes represent targets, and red nodes represent pathways. Nodes size and color depth are proportional to their degree. C-T-P network: compound-target-pathway network.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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